SINGAPORE - Building upon its most successful year since the airline industry downturn of 1992, GE Aircraft Engines is working with airlines and manufacturers to further improve its exceptional CF6 family of engines.

Citing performance, safety, value, and reliability, CF6 customers ordered 244 engines in 1997, including 100 percent of the Boeing 767-400ER (Extended Range) market. In addition to a $600 million order from Continental Airlines and a $500 million order from Delta Airlines, Air New Zealand and LanChile, the Chilean national airline, also selected CF6 engines, which are scheduled for delivery beginning this year.

In its 27 years of service, the CF6 family of engines has achieved remarkable levels of reliability, accumulating almost 200 million flight hours serving more than 150 airline customers worldwide. Fleet wide, CF6 engines enjoy a dispatch reliability rate of 99.94 percent (about one engine-caused delay per 2,000 departures).

Building on this success, GE is offering a higher-thrust CF6 derivative in the 63,000 pounds thrust class. Designed to provide airline customers with significant payload advantage and incorporating a new improved Rene 88 turbine, this derivative provides improved high-pressure turbine durability, better maintenance costs, and higher temperature capability. The new CF6 configuration, which requires no other modifications to incorporate the new Rene 88 turbine, will be available to airline customers in May 2000.

In addition, GE continues to work on additional CF6 derivatives with further thrust growth and other improvements to fulfill the powerplant requirements of evolving airframe designs.